10 Responses to “Fiat 500 Abarth advert”

One hell of a bridge, too. I think this ad set off every feminist alarm in my liberal-arts-educated mind. I mean, did nobody in the marketing department pick up on the fact that in their ad, this woman is literally portrayed as an object of lust? (Or that the object is portrayed as a woman, or- who knows.)

Let’s call it what it is – a non-cohesive and poorly thought through marketing plan.

The JLo ads effectively guaranteed the Fiat 500’s image as a chick car. Period. All done.

While I certainly enjoyed watching the hot seductress in the Abarth ad (scorpion tattoo and all), the ad itself has some serious flaws – assuming their goal was to sell the idea that the Abarth version can appeal to guys.

The biggest issue is that guys won’t identify with the “guy” in the ad. Most guys identify with strong, powerful, controlling images. The “guy” in the ad is a wimpy, gutless, foam latte-drinking nerd, who practically wets himself at the sight of the hot Abarth seductress.

This sort of imagery might work in some European markets, but can you really picture some average American named Joe proudly showing off his new Fiat 500 to his friends Chuck, Mike and John? No, I can’t either.

My understanding is the 500 targets the Mini Cooper, and the Abarth targets the Cooper S. However, Fiat is advertising the 500 heavily, and to a primetime audience – they are definitely casting their net wide, and the “chick car” image is reaching the mainstream market.

Therefore, the Abarth 500 loses before it even launches. Since the base 500 has already been labeled, the receptive audience for a hotter Abarth is only a tiny fraction of what it could have been.

Mazda and VW tried hard in their respective advertising for the Miata and New Beetle to avoid any hint of chick car image. There’s a reason for that. Didn’t work, but they tried.

Fiat pretty much did the opposite – 500 ads featuring dozens of dancing guys pursuing JLo in her 500? Just in case that chick car image didn’t stick, they followed up with the Gucci version?

Even nerdy guys don’t want to be seen driving a chick car. A few clever ads and a bunch of Abarth equipment isn’t going to save this one.

Larry, don’t forget that gay guys don’t mind driving a chick car. And I am sure that is the main male demographic for the 500. And now that they have saturated that market and the urban style early adopters have all bought theirs, the cars are piling up on dealer lots so much they stopped production on the engines for them this week! To me, the Abarth is actually cool, but if they really want to sell it to red blooded he men they need to win some rallies in it! This car is basically Smart Car round 2. When will people learn that in America, city cars only sell in cities? And only in small volume. The idea that this car was going to “save chrysler” was an absurd notion from the start.

Interestingly, there are a lot of women that don’t want to drive a chick car either. I read somewhere that many auto industry insiders consider the “chick car” label the kiss of death from a sales perspective, since it turns off such a large percentage of their potential market. Same thing with “mommymobile” – apparently even mommies don’t want to be seen driving mommymobiles. It’s all about image.

I agree – from a car enthusiast’s perspective, the Abarth 500 is pretty cool. From a buyer’s perspective, however, I wouldn’t touch it.